I thought Three and Out was a perfect title. Not sure if John Bacon or his editor get credit but I like it.

I'm not sure if it will validate my suspiciouns or change my views of the characters in this drama. I do know that I can trust John Bacon's account of what he saw. I give Coach Rodriguez a lot of credit for allowing Bacon so much access. Looking forward to having it arrive on my porch.

The title got changed when RR got fired. In fact, I recall Bacon saying that the title has changed several times as a result of changing factors. Don't quite me on this, but IIRC it was originally only suppose to be one year and writing about that, and then it evolved into three (Which ended poorly, so "Third and Long"), and then those three ended up being the entirety of RR's tenure (hence the final title).

thought to be a heavy Florida lean early in the process. If you recall, Denard was friends with Adrian Witty, who is now at Cinci because he could not get into school at M.

Ultimately it was probably the commit of Witty and the fact that few schools were willing to give Denard a shot at QB - M was one, and I think Kansas State was another that brought him to M on signing day. Florida wanted him as an athlete.

IIRC, Bacon has taught classes at UM. I also seem to recall that he has been relegated to the hinterlands in the Michigan Stadium pressbox, per Brian.

I'm curious if the University is "punishing" Bacon for brutal honesty. In my naivete, I would hope not. In my cynicism, I would think it possible. Michigan prides itself on being a liberal, open-minded, tolerant place. If Bacon no longer teaches, or is now denied access, because he didn't sugarcoat what actually happens, well, that in itself would reflect more poorly on Michigan than anything Bacon might have written.

features that make me most proud of my alma mater -- the open dialogue. Scholarship ultimately has to be founded on the truth.

My "paranoia" stems mostly from the other part of my persona that shows up on Saturdays in late August through (hopefully) January. That guy is partisan as hell and wants to see the Michigan brand dominate the marketplace for the hearts and minds of football fans everywhere.

In one way, the inner workings of the athletic department have nothing to do with scholarship. In another way, everything at the university has to reflect a shared culture and shared set of values. When each department (or area) in a University (or Corporation) has widely disparate and competing values, it is difficult to move forward.

To the degree that every unit in the unversity, including athletics, shares values, the entire entity is stronger than the sum of the parts.

Historically, athletics were seen as part of training the whole person in the university setting. The ideal of the university is to shape and form someone who is strong in mind, soul, and body. Now, admittedly, this is a farce on many levels. But when the team and the athletic department reflect diversity of race, opinion, and religion, and there can be open and spirited dialogue and dissent, well, that reflects one of the core values of the University of Michigan.

The inherent messages with a closed athletic department are not good. What is said to the student body is that dialogue in the classroom is fine, but in the real world, we only give lip service to diversity and dissent, and really, we don't give a F***. This makes the entire academic experience a farce.

A worse message is that the rules are different, and that corruption is accepted and even encouraged so long as there is success. Exhibit A: tatgate in Columbus.

I am doing some repairs on my cottage. There's a lot to do, including replacing some rotten facia boards and siding. Eventually I'll paint and reroof. Here's the thing: I could paint now, and put on new shingles, and things would look pretty. But in the end, foundational issues are more important to deal with first. From my perspective, the same thing is true wih athletics at UofM. If the foundation is right, the rest will fall into place.

I thought the same thing when I read that thing Brian said about Carr hating this. Sounds juicy. Can't wait.

There will no doubt be a "Three and Long" open thread when the book comes out. Over/under on # of posts in that thread within 48 hours: 450. (I'd take the over.) I bet the server ends up crashing because this book is gonna hit on all the hot topics that people have loved (and loathed) discussing here for the past 3 years.

I'm looking forward to reading the book, but part of me is dreading it at the same time. We just went through a period of time where the team, administration, fanbase and alumni were splintered. This will answer alot of questions, but I fear it won't put everything to rest and will cause alot more problems.

I'v enjoyed everything I've ever read from Bacon and he doesn't approach his work as a way to bring people down and seems like he really just wants to put the truth out there. But we just got everybody back on the same page. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I'm not sure I see this book as a good thing. Then again, if we can use it to make sure that we don't repeat mistakes, it can be a positive. Either way, it'll be interesting to read and see everyone's reaction to it.

I have a feeling it will, although not by making any particular faction right or wrong, just by making it clear that both sides of the arguement were partly right and wrong.

I've found in my 40 something years on this planet that when it all washes out the truth usually lies somewhere in the middle grey area and not in either of the black or white sections that people tend to gravitate towards.

I know that while I love Lloyd I'm prepared to see his armour cracked pretty heavily when I read this and it likely will effect my judgement in regards to his accomplishments while at Michigan and my diminish my respect for him to some degree. I'm OK with that because in those same 40 something years I've also realized that humans are just that. Human.

I'm also prepared to be shown that my worst impressions of RR were not a true reflection of the man. That while human and guilty of all the weaknesses that come with that, the circumstances may have been more in control of the outcome than he was.

If the book does directly indict one party or the other as "more" or "less" to blame then so be it, We'll have to take that medicine and move on. (Finally??)

I think there is the possibility to make Michigan seem like a whiny school girl and make Lloyd and the former players seem like dicks. Normally, I don't care, but I'm a keep it in the family kind of guy.

I'm not as worried if this actually brings about a change and we don't see this type of thing happen again. If were were all worried about keeping it in the family, we wouldn't have had some of those problems in the first place (Braylon and the #1 jersey conflict, Trent talking badly about RichRod in the press, etc....)

There's just one problem with that reasoning: Bacon never interviewed Carr for the book, and went ahead and published it anyway. The book offers others' perspective on Carr, but nothing from his perspective. That doesn't mean it's false, but we can't be certain it's true, either. If Bacon's utmost goal was truth-telling, he needed to get Carr to speak on the record about these things.

Do we know if Bacon tried to get interviews with Carr? I'd imagine that since Bacon has been around/part of the university/athletic department for a while, he'd have asked. If he did and Carr refused, then you can't put fault Bacon for going ahead and publishing it. If he didn't approach Carr, then I think it's a little irresponsible by Bacon. But of course, it depends on how it is written and if he criticizes Carr or makes him look bad.

Does it matter? Bacon and his publisher are claiming this to be the definitive account of events of the last three years. Evidently they must not be too concerned that Carr is never quoted in a book that takes shots at him.

Anyway, I find any claim that Carr was "unavailable" to be silly. He was the assistant athletic director. He was right there. You can't possibly tell me that for three years, Bacon just couldn't ever get an interview with the man.

This omission, coupled with Brian's revelation that the book hardly deals with the management of the defensive side of the ball, really makes me wonder about Bacon's motivations as a writer. Hard questions need to be asked.

They can call the book "the definitive account" all they want, that doesn't mean it's true--it's just hype.

I think people have the wrong idea about what this book really is. This is not a book about the Rodriguez era providing an even-handed account that offers multiple perspectives from all the involved parties. The book, from what I've heard, tells the story almost entirely from the point of view of Rodriguez and his inner circle. This isn't surprising given that it was Rodriguez who gave Bacon access to the program. Given the book's point of view, it's also hardly surprising that the book would lean in a pro-Rodriguez direction.

I also think it's important to note that Bacon is on record as saying that Rodriguez should have been back for a fourth year.

I said that the book leans in a pro-Rodriguez direction; I didn't say it was a puff piece about him. From what I've heard, Rodriguez doesn't come off unscathed in the book, which is why he isn't happy about it. He wants to get back into coaching next year, and this book isn't likely to help in that regard.

??? If this is accurate, then Bacon missed most of the important stuff. The mis-management of the defensive side of things is primarily what got RR fired. I find it hard to believe that John would whiff on such an obvious thing.

Have you read the book? Has anyone on here? It seems we're making a lot of assumptions based on some bullet points Brian put up.

Having taken Bacon's class, and having interacted with him outside of class, I can say with a high degree of certainty that Bacon has a great deal of respect for Lloyd Carr (he brought him to speak to our class), and an even higher respect for real journalism.

All books are written from a certain perspective. Bacon spent 3 years attached to the football program under Rodriguez, and I'm sure that attachment is borne out in his writing. It's human nature.

I have also taken Bacon's class, and I know from it that it wouldn't be in there if Bacon were't willing to stake his credibility on it.

If this book makes Carr look that bad, I will believe he deserved it. I also am willing to bet by default that if Carr was not interviewed for this book (which as far as I know was NOT what Brian or anyone else said) he probably didn't want to be. As it has been said, that would be in-line with his entire stance during RR's tenure, and frankly, I think that's part of the problem. Bo has said that Bump's support was important to his success in coming to Michigan as an outsider, so I don't know why it would have killed Lloyd to do the same if he really cared that much about the program. I know I am making my own assumptions on Carr's actions post-retirement here, but where Carr's side being or not being in the book has not been said, I think its easy to hypothesize from Brian's post that Carr was definitely not there for RR or else he probably wouldn't have reason to hate the book.

One thing is for sure though, the more crap that goes on around the program, the more I miss Bo. We've always loved Bo for everything he did for Michigan, but after reading Bo's Lasting Lessons and seeing the happenings since and including The Horror, it has made me realize that it wasn't just what Bo did that made me love him, it was who he was as an individual. I really think that if he were alive today, the last three years would have gone VERY differently. Consider how much impact Bo's public support would have had after Practicegate. For that matter, I wonder if the dolphin puncher would have ever written the article if Bo had been around to support RR from the very beginning.

I pre-ordered from overstock.com I am very interested to see what Bacon has got to say. From Brian's indication that it is written in a "Pro-Rodriguez editorial style" which I read as "Heavily Biased" I realize that I'll have to take everything with a grain of salt, but really, getting Rodgiguez's side of the story is better than nothing. Right now most of our data points are speculation.

I had a hard time thinking of questions for Brian to ask Bacon, as everything I could think of was more of a question for Rodriguez than Bacon...And most of them were short. For example: What REALLY went down with Ryan Mallett? Nick Sheridan WTF? What exactly were you thinking when you left Denard in against Iowa in 2009? When you punted away late in the 4'th against state in '10? Did Rodriguez think he deserved another year?

I guess that last question would be the most interesting to me. We all know that publicly Rodriguez has stated that he deserved another year. I'd be interested to know if Bacon felt that Rodriguez really believed that.

But back to the original topic, I really enjoy John Bacon's show on TKA on Sundays. I'm a little bitter that I didn't have the pleasure of taking any of his classes at the U(when did he start teaching there anyway?) but I look forward to a good read.

Why wouldn't RR think he deserved another year? He inherited a team with no QBs, LBs or safeties so he got off to a bad start but he increased his wins every year. Looking forward to a season when he would have 9 returning starters on O and D and an easier schedule he could expect to win at least 9 games this year. With his offense finally in place he could focus on the D. I can't imagine him thinking anything other than he had turned the corner.

I know you guys love to goad us into bringing up every embarrassing thing that has happened in the last 3 years. I know that Rodriguez has done more for MSU athletics than Magic, Steve Smith and Scotty Skiles combined. Well guess what? Michigan still swept your sorry spartans in basketball. You still got blown the f&^% out by Notre Dame, and you're still going to lose on your home turf to Michigan. Deal.

I have followed Michigan football closely for the last three years. I am also familiar with human nature and human thought processes. All of that leads me to conclude that RR believes he deserved another year. I set forth the factors that I believe RR would focus on to reach that conclusion.

You have offered nothing, except ad hominem attacks, to explain how you could reach a different conclusion about RR's thoughts. (You do realize that your question was about RR's thinking, rather than an objective analysis of whether he deserved another year, don't you?) If you have anything intelligent to explain your position I'm interested in reading it. If all you have are childish non sequiturs, then please don't bother responding.

This was a good enough defense to get us to six wins, keep our bowl streak alive and get the 15 extra practices that we really needed. The DL should have been the Big Ten's best that year, or at least close to it. You had a senior Thompson at SAM, a returning starter in Ezeh at MIKE, and Jonas Mouton ready at WILL - and he played some good football in '08. Warren and Trent were a solid duo at corner. Harrison was a senior at safety, and Brown was a junior. When you look back at 2008, think of all the games that were there to be won: Utah, Toledo, Purdue, MSU... even PSU and ND.

I'm not interested in reading it. Mainly because I don't wish to relive those three years in excruciating detail, but also because I'm frankly disappointed in Bacon for allowing the book to be a one-sided portrayal of events. If you're going to have your central figure (RR) take shots at Lloyd Carr, you've got to find a way to get Carr to respond. Carr was our assistant AD at the time RR was coaching. You can't tell me it was impossible for Bacon to meet with him. Did he want a truly balanced account of the last three years, or to write an apologia for Rodriguez?

Just ask Lloyd Carr to comment and/or rebut anything he would like to, about the book's contents. It 's a free country. If Bacon gets any of his facts wrong (I doubt it), I hope that a-n-y-b-o-d-y who knows better, will speak up.

It's a free country. Lloyd Carr can defend himself if he thinks he needs to. He certainly seemed ready to slap down Morgan Trent when Trent was third-hand-quoting Carr and Rodriguez.

These are all big boys. If Lloyd Carr, Michael Rosenberg, Bill Martin, Dave Brandon or Rich Rodriguez don't like what is in the book, they can say so. I think more answers, to more questions, is a good thing. Not a bad thing.

Throughout his career as a coach, Lloyd Carr demonstrated that he distrusted the media and was unwilling to provide reporters with information. He routinely withheld information about even the smallest matters about the program.

Yet you don't believe that Carr would have refused to talk to Bacon or, more importantly, go on the record with him.

That's absurd.

Why not read the book and find out what Bacon actually wrote about Carr before you condemn how he wrote the book?

Unless there is a really weird story out there that I don't know about.

To make a very long story very short, there was a memo; a CARA audit memo, dated July 27, 2009. The distribution of the memo was to a couple-dozen people within the Athletic Department. My presumption -- and what I think is the general operative presumption -- is that that Memo was leaked to Rosenberg, or Snyder, by some method. And that is what started the whole story. (The Memo itself did not indicate ANY NCAA violations. The Memo stated that there were in fact no indications of any NCAA violations.) Rosenberg has neither admitted, nor denied, that that is how the story arose. Rosenberg clearly did have the memo at the time the story broke, which was before the Freep's FOIA was issued.

So, how did the memo get to Rosenberg/Snyder? Was it leaked to somebody who then leaked to the Freep writers? Was Ron English part of that chain? I don't know. I frankly think it would be weird, if English were involved. I really doubt it, but I don't know.

Personally, I have never regarded Ron English as an important part of the general Freep story. I don't see any need to bring him into it. It would be fun if we knew who was involved in the leak. But the leakers are too chickenshit to reveal themsleves. And Rosenberg isn't talking. Anyway, the really important thing is not the memo itself; because that memo by itself didn't mean anything. This was a story that Rosenberg had to concoct on his own. He bears the blame alone for what he did.

It has the iconic picture of Denard at Notre Dame, Heisman-like. The picture that features John U. Bacon himself in the lower-right. Perfect.

The title -- something that was in the works and was indeed re-worked to fit the epilogue -- is likewise perfection. "Three and out" was the essence -- the short span of time afforded to Rodriguez. The urgency of college football in general, on and off the field. And "three," as in years, is assuredly the number that Bo Schembechler, Gary Moeller and Lloyd Carr would all have agreed was insufficient time to allow a Head Coach to establish his program, at any big football school.

And I like that the title portion in the bottom third is not Maize and Blue, but rather is black and white. Because I don't expect the book to be a love-letter to Michigan football. But rather a clear-eyed, tough, revealing, honest analysis. Black and white.

I hope that everybody gets very uncomfortable reading the book. I want all of the popular myths to be exploded. I want the common wisdom to be demolished.

It's a double edged sword IMO. Come out in the offseason and we've got nothing but spring practice and recruiting to create distractions from the book and what happened behind the scenes. During the season, it could cause distractions. But at least everyone would forget about it because we have games every week. Positives and negatives for both sides.

I cant imagine any one "person" sold us out...my guess would be that a few of the older players reached out to ron for one reason or another while struggling through a really bad season. English was probably still tight with rosenburg and company.

I would pray that someone who once coached at Michigan would not purposely try to screw over the program just because a few kids didn't like the new staff. Keep in mind most of the guys who were saying it was out of control were guys who quit on the team in 08....(Trent, Clemons...etc)

Should be a nice little book to read but I do question the timing of the release. I would think early 2012 after the season would be a better time.

You think this even comes remotely close, to a front-page newspaper story that alleges major NCAA violations, published on the Sunday before a Saturday home opener? With virtually no time or opportunity to respond before publication? Facing a spunky instate directional-school underdog team, to whom it would be complete disaster to lose to, playing with what the pundits think might be an NFL-caliber QB?

makes me so fucking sick to my stomach. I hate so many aspects of this I don't think I can find the book "interesting" per se. It would be like hearing your significant other cheated on you, you eventually came to grips with it, then saw that pictures of the event had been posted on the internet.

I'm naive, too trusting and I love everything that is associated with Michigan football. But the truth is, everybody screwed up. The infrastructure let down the program. RR let down the program (hard for me to say as I was one of his staunchest supporters, but in retrospect, the mistakes that were his were colossal). The "old guard" let down the program. The alumni who have a public voice let down the program.

No one was right. Every faction was wrong or had something to do with what happened. Men acted like boys and as a result, a lot of young men who play(ed) for Michigan paid the price.

I'm getting emotional just thinking about this. It's so depressing that we did this to ourselves.

I'm looking forward to getting back to the stadium tomorrow and watching our young men play their asses off. I'm hoping that in the post game interview, Denard will have had a good game and that he'll smile. That always makes me feel better.

has helped "heal" a lot of the previous negative feelings. For three years I jumped up and down screaming that people should support Coach X, whomever it is, because he's Michigan's head coach. Doesn't mean you can't be critical of gameday mistakes, but fundamentally, he should be supported. I'm not claiming RR was or wasn't supported, just saying that in a vacuum, a fanbase ideally should be behind their coach.

At first, I was not in favor of the Hoke hire. I didn't like what I thought it represented. I think an ugly part of me wanted to dislike him. I could support him without feeling emotionally invested in him. Not possible. That guy has been essentially perfect the first nine months on the job. It seems he's been mindful of every major "type" of Michigan fan. He's been gracious and respectful while still possessing an appropriate degree of confidence in himself. It's impossible not to love that guy and this staff.

I have to admit that I myself was a huge Rodriguez fan. As late as the start of last season, I wrote an empassioned(though misguided) speech about giving Rodriguez time, how great the offense was going to be, etc.

Somewhere in the fourth quarter of the MSU game though, it finally sank in that for better or for worse Rodriguez just wasn't going to work out here.

I'm really interested in what the book will reveal about how the administation treated Rodriguez. I feel bad for what he had to go through. I'm sure it will all be very dramatic, a real page turner.

I have a sneaking suspicion that what the sad sad ballad of Rich Rodriguez wont be is unique. Our athletic department has been pretty screwed up for some time, and honestly its somewhat surprising that football has thrived despite it all. Just look at how Tommy Amaker was treated from day one. I think its fitting that the practice facility promised to Amaker in 2001 was finally built after Martin was gone. A lot like getting your 30 year old son the nintendo he wanted when he was 12.

Most of us have been the new guy at work. Its never fun. And if you're a guy brought in by the new administration...God help you. You're looking at resentment, distrust, sabotage, hatred born of fear...you name it. Most of us have been there. It isn't fun. It also isn't unique.

Some of us thrived anyway, and some of us got the hell out, but in the end I am reminded of a speech Rocky gives to his kid in that last movie.

"When things got hard, you started looking for something to blame. Like a Big Shadow. Let me tell you something you already know. The worlds aren’t all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it...

If you know what you're worth,Go out and Get What Your Worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers saying you aren’t where you wanna be because of him or her or anybody. Cowards do that and that aren’t you. You're better than that."

Yeah, I preordered the Kindle version. The only advantage is that it gets automatically downloaded to your reader as soon as it's released. Unless you want to start reading asap, there's really no advantage.

Who here thinks for a minute, even as they claim he would have righted the ship with the warring factions, that Bo would have let this book happen?

Reading so many of the comments here reminds me of the anticipation over the next TMZ revelation. What the hell is that about? And the eagerness of some to see Carr or former players names tarnished is stomach turning.

This much is true, if Rodriguez would have strolled into Ann Arbor and given a first press conference that was like Hoke's, his tenure at Michigan would have been much different in terms of the kind of support he received. If he would have embraced the program and tradition instead of calling the "Michigan Man" stuff hyperbole, he would have not been seen as an interloper by so many who have much more invested in the program than most of us here.

As wondered many times: if Bo had been around there would have been no book, in part because if Rich was still the coach hired, Bo would have made sure people (probably including Rich) behaved, and did things differently.

As for the comment about Rich's first press conference - he did blow it. The poster above merely brings up how important it was that he embraced tradition -- especially as an outsider -- and Rich blew it. Not sure how much of a difference that would have made in the end run. It was not his only misstep. But shoring up the base might have been the edge he needed to get to year 4.

Read Bo's Lasting Lessons from the same author. Bacon worked closely with Bo in writing it before he passed away. It's essentially Bo narrating through Bacon because he wouldn't write the book himself. The idea of the book is to give inspirational advice on character on leadership, with anecdotes from his life, career, and teams. Excellent read for any Michigan fan - even if you don't care about the leadership aspect of it, there are a ton of great stories and insight into how Bo thought and worked.

Or RR felt that since day one Bacon was a guy that he felt gave him a fair straight up shot...now I cant nor can anyone say if he was right or wrong. But, if RR felt that Bacon gave him a fair shot then I can understand why he wouldn't mind if Bacon has exclusive coverage and access to his program.

Again, should be an interesting read and it seems like some are afraid that the "arrogance" part will come out in full force.

At Michigan we are what we are...might as well embrace it instead of worrying about how it will come out.

I just listened to the podcast of Bacon's appearance on WTKA yesterday. When he was asked whether the book was pro-RichRod, he replied (this is a paraphrase): "If anyone thinks this book is pro-RichRod, please tell him that -- and his lawyers."